Antonia Kapsalis has used her family’s personal challenges over the pas t 21 years as the basis for community wide assistance for many others in need of understanding and support.  Culturally competent ways for carers to move forward, in dealing with mental illness in the family, have been pretty low on supply until recently.  Thanks to people like Antonia, awareness is growing and help is gradually becoming more available.  Her Greek Australian initiatives encourage people from other diverse backgrounds to reach out for mutual support and development.

‘We need more people to become aware that carers should be part of a joint approach to helping the person living with a mental illness,’ Antonia said.  ‘There are many ways carers can inform mental health professionals in the process of care planning, case consultation and individual rehabilitation.’

Helping her own daughter Claudia Dimitria, and son Chris, to begin their recovery journeys from living with paranoid schizophrenia, has taught Antonia lots of self-help strategies, and ways to improve CALD community understanding about mental illness.

‘Knowing how to set limits and to create healthy boundaries, are both essential skills we carers need help to develop,’ Antonia said.  ‘There can be a lot of guilt in some cultures, about having a child with a mental illness, and so people try to overcompensate and stifle their child’s potential for independent development.  We need to encourage more discussion in CALD communities, about how individuals can be helped to develop their lives, so as to leave room for their carers to also develop a personal life with choices.’

Too many CALD carers end up smothering their family member, trying to make up for their inner guilt about the fact that mental illness exists in the family, Antonia said.  “We can help people get past that and begin to develop independence for themselves and the person living with the challenge.  This means a more rewarding life for all involved.’

‘The other challenge CALD carers need to come together about, is getting professionals to pay respect to the whole person, and acknowledge they have a spiritual life, and a combination of mind, body and spiritual needs.  Some CALD carers are threatened by the authority figure of the doctor or mental health worker.  But they need help understanding different cultural backgrounds as much as anyone else.  So we’ve got to join together and begin to educate them about how we experience life, and what is important for the development of the whole person.’           

‘Getting over the stigma that some carers feel is the first barrier to freeing people up again,’ Atonia added.  ‘We can give each other support and share our pain, as well as our joy at having these richly diverse people in our lives.  I would encourage all CALD carers to get in touch with your local transcultural mental health service, and ask for advice on how they assist carers with culturally appropriate support.  If they don’t already, then demand that they start!’

Forming partnership relationships with the mental health system is a major way that carers can help their loved one, themselves, and the professionals, to all improve their focus on the needs of the consumer, and enhancing everyone’s quality of life, Antonia suggested.

‘When I gave my first talk in 1993 I was frightened and anxious, because of how I had been treated by other members of my community,’ Antonia said.  ‘But even so, I asked my sister and my other son to come along on that day.  This was the first time they ever knew how I felt, lonely, unsupported, misunderstood, guilty and ashamed for the situation I was in.  Now that I have had experience in sharing this story many times, I know how much better people can fel when they learn to value both the story and the storyteller.’